Troops 'refitting for future actions'

U.S. Army Rangers on the ground after parachuting into southern Afghanistan for an overnight operation.

SUMMARY:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday that U.S. Special Forces, including Army Rangers, "attacked and destroyed targets" in Afghanistan and "are refitting for future actions" against targets "known to harbor terrorists."

UPDATE:

During a Pentagon news conference, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers said the operations were carried out Friday night "without significant interference from Taliban forces." He described the operation, which targeted an airfield in southern Afghanistan and a Taliban command and control center near Kandahar, as successful. Citing security reasons, Myers refused to say how many troops were involved in the missions. (Full story)

The Taliban claimed to have downed a helicopter being used by U.S. troops in the operation, said Youssef Al-Shouli, a correspondent for Arabic-language TV station Al Jazeera, stationed in Kandahar. Taliban officials said they shot the helicopter over Kandahar and that it headed away and crashed over the border with Pakistan. Their claim could not be immediately verified. The Pentagon said Friday that two U.S. military personnel were killed in a helicopter accident in Pakistan as they worked to support the ground operation. U.S. officials told CNN the helicopter was not among those that went into Afghanistan. (Full story)

U.S. forces resumed heavy daylight bombing raids in Afghanistan Saturday, including near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar where U.S. combat troops attacked a target the night before, CNN sources in the city said. The strikes resumed Saturday around 10:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. EDT) in a village northwest of Kandahar. (Full story)

VIDEO

CNN's Jamie McIntyre says over 100 U.S. troops parachuted into Kandahar and left behind some calling cards (October 20)

The rebel Northern Alliance and the Taliban continued to battle over the strategically important city of Mazar-e Sharif in the northwest, which alliance troops are trying to wrest from Taliban hands. Friday, a U.S. official in Washington told CNN that elite American troops were on the ground in Afghanistan in a "liaison" mission with the Northern Alliance.

President Bush said Saturday the two U.S. soldiers killed in a helicopter accident in Pakistan "will not have died in vain," and they died for a cause that is "just and right." (Full story)

Thousands of Afghans, fleeing airstrikes and a fast-approaching winter, huddled behind Afghanistan's border with Pakistan at Chaman on Saturday, barred by Pakistani border officials from crossing out of their bomb-blasted country. (Full story)

The American delegation to this weekend's summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Shanghai is selling a new line on the fight against terrorism, highlighting the importance of the economic battle. (Full story)

KEY QUESTIONS:

When will the Northern Alliance, the anti-Taliban group that controls up to 10 percent of Afghanistan, begin a ground offensive to take the capital of Kabul? Are they making any progress? (Click here for more.)

What is life like in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, with increasingly intense U.S. airstrikes overhead? (Click here for more.)